5. Make this a thread that people can come to and discuss issues etc....

Now I am not good at writing Guides and truthfully at this time have no desire to do so, but I will however try my best to help you along the way when my time is available. So please I ask do not flood my Inbox with request for a guide etc. (Post here so others can contribute and everyone can learn together)

One thing I have learned over the years of flashing devices is its better to think it through and work by trial and error so you can truly learn the skill of performing successful flashes.

(Please everyone keep it civil and make this a community effort to help each and everyone)

(Again let me stress, please do not flood me with request to show you how to do this, as currently I will not post this information, I have my reasons and I hope you can respect that and use this thread for the other benefits you can get from it)

** Note: I did not include Verizon Prepaid or Straight Talk in this due to my beliefs that the cloning of esns/meids to obtain service is not LEGAL **

The PRL is a list of information that resides in the memory of some kinds of digital phones. It lists the radio frequencies the phone can use in various geographic areas.

The part of the list for each area is ordered by the bands the phone should try to use first. Therefore it's a kind of priority list for which towers the phone should use.

The PRL helps determine which home-network towers to use, and also which towers belonging to other networks to use in roaming situations (areas where the home network
has no coverage.) When roaming, the PRL may instruct the phone to use the network with the best roaming rate for the carrier, rather than the one with the strongest signal at the moment.

Since a PRL tells the phone "where" to search for a signal, as carrier networks change over time, an updated PRL may be required for a phone to "see" all of the coverage that it should,
both with the home network and for roaming.

When you install the apk and open, it will ask you the carrier you flashed the phone to, along with the phone number. It is very important that you fill this information in. If you fail to do so, the apk will not function.

There are two options to dial for diag menu on this phone
##3424# and *#7284#
One will ask for an SPC Code and One will Not
Use the one that does not ask for SPC Code
When PhoneUtil Opens Select PDA
Tap Qualacomm USB Setting
Select DM+Modem+ADB
Tap OK
(Remember after flashing to return and put phone back to MTP+ADB)

1. Put your phone into download mode. To do this turn the phone off and then press volume down+home button+power button at the same time. You will then get a warning saying press up to continue and down to cancel, press volume up and you are now in download mode

2. Start Odin

3.At this point please make sure that ONLY TWO OPTIONS TICKED are "Auto Reboot" and "F.Reset Time" (otherwise you could end up with a very expensive paperweight)

4. Select the PDA button in the Odin program: Direst it to the tar file that you are using to upgrade the one you downloaded for your device......

5. Plug your Phone into the computer, wait for the drivers to install and then wait for the ID:COM section to turn blue in ODIN.

7.Press start and the flash will begin, once this has started do not remove the usb cable or turn off your computer or the device (or you will have brick for sure) the phone will reboot once the flash has finished.

2. No OTA Programming *228, *22890, *22800, *22801 or any other Variants

3. Some Rom's do not play well with Flashed Phones do your research before flashing.

4. Never do a RTN (Return to Network) Reset ##786# on a Flashed Device (Most definitely will break your flash)

5. Some Radios/Modems cause issues if you flash (If the phone is working leave it be)

6. Factory Reset ( I recommend not to do this also, some versions of Android phones it will break things period)

7. PRLS ..... aww my favorite, everyone thinks these are the answer to all their prayers

a. If the phone is working leave it be (my personal stance)
b. Some PRL's are not EVDO or have not been Modded and will break your 3G or throw the Roaming Symbol
c. I have posted many PRL's above that will work with 3G (Latest one I modded is 60007 for all carrier phones)

It's a complaint I hear everyday from people using flashed smartphones performed by them or another flashing provider...

Why are my speeds so slow and is it possible to improve the situation?
There are a variety of reasons why 3G data speeds may be less than stellar, and each one requires a different solution.

Before assuming there's a problem, though, make sure you understand the realistic capabilities of your service.

VERIZON/Page Plus/Selectel:

2G 1xRTT: 50-100kbps download and upload with bursts to 144 kbps
3G EVDO Rev-A: (shows up as "3G" on your phone): 600-1400kbps download with bursts to 3Mbps, 200-800kbps upload with bursts to 1.8Mbps

(Don't get to caught up in running speedtest as these can be very confusing and fool you at times into thinking you have a problem when actually
the way they test and the servers they use get congested also)

POTENTIAL PROBLEM #1: Weak signal

If you're too far away from the tower (or if there are a lot of obstructions/interference between you and the tower), your device won't be able
to pick up a strong signal and your performance will suffer.

Solution: Try other locations in your home or area you are in, some areas do not get great signal strength and this could be your issue.

POTENTIAL PROBLEM #2: Tower overcrowding (Network Congestion)

The bandwidth available from a cell tower is shared amongst all the users connecting to the tower. A cell tower can only provide so much bandwidth,
and the more users there are connecting to the tower, the slower everyone's speeds will be.

Is this YOUR problem? If you notice that your speeds tend to follow a pattern most days (for example, nice and fast late at night or early in the day but slower in the evening when everyone is home from work and school) and you've confirmed that the problem isn't signal-related (by testing your speeds at home and then again somewhere closer to the tower), you'll know your tower is simply being used by lots of other subscribers at the same time.

Solution: Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about this (other than consider switching to a different provider who might have more capacity at their towers or isn't as oversold in your area).

POTENTIAL PROBLEM #3: Incorrectly Performed Flash

It's very common for flashed phones to have been done incorrectly.

Is this YOUR problem? This is very possibly the source of the problem if your flash was done incorrectly or you made changes to your setup recently.

Solution: You'll need to either troubleshoot the phone and or reflash the problem phone.

POTENTIAL PROBLEM #4: Tower issues

Providers periodically do maintenance or upgrade work on cell towers, which can disrupt service; other factors like severe weather occasionally damage cell towers and cause problems.

Is this YOUR problem? If your service suddenly degrades significantly and doesn't improve much during non-peak hours (which it would if the problem was overcrowding), and you've confirmed it's not a problem with your flash, the problem likely lies with the tower. The best way to confirm is to take your device several miles away where you'll be connecting to a different tower and test there — if everything works fine when connected to a different tower, you'll know something is amiss with your home tower.

Solution: Out of your control, bear with it until the provider finishes work and repairs.....

Potential Problem #5: Sprint and USSC Devices

I hate to say it but I have seen some Sprint/USSC phones have this issue, likely due to weaker radios and or hardware implemented in the device.

Is this YOUR problem? This is very possibly the source of the problem if your flash was done correctly and you verify that other devices on the network in the same location as yours get consistently better data speeds.

Solution: Verify flash is correct and that your connected at EVDO in settings and passwords have passed authentication. If so this most likely a Sprint/USSC device issue out of control by the user. Replace device with another Cellphone Carrier brand and most of the time problem will be solved. (I see this allot with some of the Samsung S3 Devices from Sprint/USSC, almost like certain lots had a weak radio for whatever reason)

In the end your speeds can be related to any or all of these issues, and a proper flash is key to performing at optimal speeds.
Sometimes as much as we hate to admit a professional flasher is needed to correct speed issues, you would not believe some of the poor flashes I see when I read preflashed phones everyday that so called professionals performed

Definitely keeping an eye on this thread! Thanks Viper for putting this together. As a current PP customer with a Sprint GS3, I'm interested in learning more.

I personally used DFS / QPST and a Fascinate to get mine working w/ 3G. A couple things I'd be interested in documenting / learning:

1) Updating the PRL on my GS3 (or other flashed Sprint phone). I currently have to activate my Fascinate, *22891, downloading PRL w/ DFS, loading it onto the GS3, then reactivating the GS3

2) The proper procedure to get AOSP roms to work 100% (MMS in particular) on flashed Sprint phones. I haven't tried yet, but I believe AOSP roms (vs TW) require some extra work to get full functionality.

Definitely keeping an eye on this thread! Thanks Viper for putting this together. As a current PP customer with a Sprint GS3, I'm interested in learning more.

I personally used DFS / QPST and a Fascinate to get mine working w/ 3G. A couple things I'd be interested in documenting / learning:

1) Updating the PRL on my GS3 (or other flashed Sprint phone). I currently have to activate my Fascinate, *22891, downloading PRL w/ DFS, loading it onto the GS3, then reactivating the GS3

2) The proper procedure to get AOSP roms to work 100% (MMS in particular) on flashed Sprint phones. I haven't tried yet, but I believe AOSP roms (vs TW) require some extra work to get full functionality.

Yeah good questions, I want this to be a team effort with everyone helping and learning together......

Couple of comments on your questions..
..
1) Updating the PRL on my GS3 (or other flashed Sprint phone). I currently have to activate my Fascinate, *22891, downloading PRL w/ DFS, loading it onto the GS3, then reactivating the GS3

I am not clear on why you would need to reactivate to update PRL, What PRL are you using now?

2) The proper procedure to get AOSP roms to work 100% (MMS in particular) on flashed Sprint phones. I haven't tried yet, but I believe AOSP roms (vs TW) require some extra work to get full functionality.[/QUOTE]

This one hopefully some others can chime in as I run TW Roms myself, but this is exactly the things I want this thread to answer for ones needing help.....

Viper kicked @$$ and spent hours helping me til we got it down with my crap internet I had. Sure enough it auto pulled keys and boom! I had 3g and seen speeds up to 2.5mbps! Started out at 600kbps but picked up

Yeah good questions, I want this to be a team effort with everyone helping and learning together......

Couple of comments on your questions..
..
1) Updating the PRL on my GS3 (or other flashed Sprint phone). I currently have to activate my Fascinate, *22891, downloading PRL w/ DFS, loading it onto the GS3, then reactivating the GS3

I am not clear on why you would need to reactivate to update PRL, What PRL are you using now?

2) The proper procedure to get AOSP roms to work 100% (MMS in particular) on flashed Sprint phones. I haven't tried yet, but I believe AOSP roms (vs TW) require some extra work to get full functionality.

This one hopefully some others can chime in as I run TW Roms myself, but this is exactly the things I want this thread to answer for ones needing help.....

Viper

#1 - Right now I'm just using the Verizon PRL that was on my Fascinate when I got the 3G keys from it - 53022. To get rid of the roaming icon, I loaded eri.xml onto my phone and changed the carrier name to Page Plus (actually I'm not sure if this actually removed the roaming triangle, but I rarely see it anymore.)

I know there has been a VZW PRL update since then - It's something like 53078 or 53096 now. I'm in the Chicago area so the exact PRL number probably depends on that.

I'd like to update the PRL on my (sprint) GS3, however the only way I know how to do it is by reactivating the Fascinate on my account to get the newest PRL, then saving it w/ DFS, then loading it onto my GS3 using DFS (then of course reactivating the GS3).

I was under the impression that *22891 to update PRL doesn't work on flashed Sprint phones, unless I"m mistaken?

***

As for #2, I did ask xda member alphahere about getting MMS working on AOSP roms, as he had mentioned in one of the PagePlus threads that he had AOSP fully working on his Sprint GS3. He gave me the following advice (which I haven't tested yet):

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